2008 St. Louis Regional
 

So far this seems to be the least loved of the first week regionals.

Only 13 teams registered with us (829) being the lowest numbered team.


What teams have plans to make this their second (in this case first) regional?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

If slots remain available, Team #292 - PantherTech plans on attending the St. Louis Regional this year.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

We would welcome a second Indiana invasion. It seemed to work out well last year. :)

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

It is one of the regionals our team is thinking about for our second. We are also thinking about GLR and Minnesota.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

If it is in the stars for the CyberCards to go out-of-state in 2008, SLR is certainly on our short list.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Want a ride?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

The TechnoKats had a lively debate about where to go this season. St Louis was a popular option, but in the end we put a slightly higher priority on going to a new (for us) regional than on playing with old friends again.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Were debating between st. louis and the GLR but St. Louis is winning

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

We'll be registering for St. Louis again, this year.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I see that 1444, 148, and 839 have all registered for St. Louis, creating the possibility of a title defense by the 2007 winning alliance. Of course, 931 will do all that we graciously can do to keep that from happening. [edit]I garbled that thought: the idea started as a rematch of last year's final. However, recalling Alan's earlier post, a rematch won't be happening. Sorry about my confused rambling...[/edit]

Whatever the outcome, we look forward to seeing old friends again, and to making some new ones. :)

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I got word today that we've remedied that situation: Team 85, Built On Brains, is coming down from Zeeland, MI to play with you guys.

Our neighbors to the east and my original team, the RoboDAWGS from Grandville (288), will also be coming down to represent West Michigan. I believe Holland Christian (107) is also considering making the trip.

I'm looking forward to a fun time, but not the long drive.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Platteville Team 171 should be attending from Wisconsin. It's looking as if 269 may only do one regional this year due to the fact that the team is so young this year. But if we do do a second, it will be St Louis.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Cool Michigan invasion.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Looks like an Alabama invasion, too. 442 and 538 are coming back for the first time since 2003. Two award winning teams from down near Huntsville.

Last time they were here, 442 took the Judges Award and 538 the Regional Chairman's Award -- and both teams have been making noise at other regionals since then.

So we can look forward to strong visiting competitors from both North and South. :)

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

The Minnesota Regional filled up fast, so it looks like you might be seeing 45 at the St.Louis Regional after all. Not a for sure thing yet, but that's what its looking like.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

It would be great to have the TechnoKats here again. :) We still need to get Andy Baker up in the Arch.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

We tried to get the entire team to go to the arch last year but the adults wouldn't go for it. Maybe you can convince Andy this year. =]

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

A trip to the Arch exposes young and not-so-young technology fans to one of the finest and most inspirational projects of the mid-twentieth century. Soaring art meets cold mathematical precision in the form of an exquisite inverted catenary curve, its every element in strength maximizing compression. It was a bold architectural concept, and an even more audacious engineering effort -- the first tall structure to be built by pouring concrete while pre-stressing the reinforcement bars, its steel inner and stainless-steel outer skins rising in precisely assembled sections, its welds tested to permit no defects. All of this in the early 1960s.

The sight has inspired many visitors, but none more so than students of technology. Like the SR-71, it amazes us today when we recall that its engineers relied on a deep understanding of physical principles and performed the required calculations using slide-rules, all the while confident that the object of their efforts, something never tried before, was nevertheless within their grasp.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Now visible on the FIRST site: 28 30 teams are confirmed for St. Louis, and 17 16 are pending. The confirmed teams represent eight states.

2 from Alabama
1 from Iowa
1 from Illinois
3 from Indiana (make that 4; see wilmo's post below)
3 from Michigan (make that 4; see Paul Copioli's post below)
16 from Missouri
1 from Nebraska
1 from Texas

Last year's St. Louis field represented eleven states. We've got about a month to go before the registration deadline, so expect the field to get even more geographically diverse. :)

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

we're coming

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

We just signed up and paid. Hopefully we will be able to use our mill and lathes for the benefit of all :)

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Well, this is shaping up nicely. A rematch of the incredibly exciting 2007 final may be (theoretically) possible. :)

I agree that the awesome power of the Thunderchickens' tools should be made available to all, and I will make a special point of confirming FIRST's 2008 policy well in advance. Week 1 event participants deserve the same benefits as those who participate in later weeks.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

It will be great to see the Thunderchickens again. You made our first FRC competition quite memorable and we learned a lot from you. See you soon!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

We're coming, signed up and paid just waiting to be on the team list

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

IT IS OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL FROM THE OFFICIAL GUYS IN THE OFFICIAL OFFICE IN THE OFFICIAL COMPANY OFFICIALLY CALLED DELPHI THAT THE TECHNOKATS ARE GOING TO ST. LOUIS! :D That's right, I just recived the email stating that we are now going to St. Louis to defend our championship!








Officially

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Well, it's official. Maybe a group of us should invade the arch on Thursday night.

Andy B.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I'm in!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Well, that's as official as it gets!

Andy, if you will promise to have your robot inspection completed and your pit closed promptly on Thursday, I will escort you and your team to the Arch personally. ;)

So as of this minute evening there are nine states represented in the 2008 St. Louis Regional FRC field, as follows:

2 from Alabama (442, 538)
1 from Iowa (967)
2 from Illinois (1208, 2219)
7 from Indiana (45, 135, 292, 829, 868, 1741, 2197)
1 from Kansas (2410)
5 from Michigan (1, 85, 217, 288, 1502)
18 from Missouri (931, 1094, 1098, 1178, 1182, 1288, 1329, 1444, 1658, 1706, 1804, 1985, 2001, 2014, 2408, 2457, 2507, 2560)
1 from Nebraska (2044)
1 from Texas (148)

and there is a published spot for one more.

[edit]38 teams are now confirmed for St. Louis, filling all of the published spots. Of course there may be more openings as the rookie team situation becomes clearer, for St. Louis and for other regionals. Stay tuned ...[/edit]

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I'm in too =]

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I might be in to, considering I could be a TechnoKat again for another weekend....

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

148, 217, and 45 in the same house again.. I'm looking forward to it :D

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

WHAT!?!?!? NO!!! ANYTHING BUT THAT! OH THE AGONY! [/sarcasm] No it will be great to have you back on the team, even for a weekend!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

me too. should be fun.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

The Robettes (2177) from Minnesota will be going to St. Louis again as our second regional, we are just waiting to get off the pending list

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

The channel cats will be their.its so good to see a lot of the same teams as last year going. it going to be great.

man o man i can't wait!!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I believe our team is planning on attending St. Louis Regional, Robodawgs #288.

We went to the chicago one the past two year but my freshman year we went to St. Louis and placed 2nd.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

unfortunately team 538 will no longer be making the trip to st. louis this year. I hope everyone has fun. and good luck

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Team 135 will be there again. We went a couple of years ago and the story is we had the police come talk to us, something with a tig welder a trailer and the parking lot.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

FRC 1094 the Channel Cats, home of the FishBoy, are fine-tuning plans for the after-competition social on Friday. So far, we have 7 teams participating in the bowling portion, and we have room for a few more interested teams.
Team
1094
2560
1502
1741
217
2177
70/494
Come one, come all for Bowling and Lazar tag. And FEED the FISH!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Team 2219 is staying at the best western in saintlouis this year! any one else know where there staying?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Team 135 will be at the best western as well

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

What's the story about a webcast for STL? I haven't been the forums much lately, maybe I over looked it, but I have nothing to do this weekend so will it be webcast-ed?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

1st practice:

Teams

Red 830, 217, 135

Blue 70, 831, 525

217 in hybrid - 3 lines
525 knocked down a ball

Final score Red 42 and Blue 100

831 9 laps
135 8 laps

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

sounds good....keep the info coming

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

shouldn't red have only gotten 22 points? how in the world did they get 100?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

those were the highlights - not intended to be a play-by-play

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

but still, holy cow how in the world did the alliance score 100 points?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

It was 931, not 831 on that practice round. Scorea were high because practice rounds were going for 285 seconds, more than double the standard match time. Fast robots got in lots of laps, and there were quite a few hurdles, too.

Scores posted on Friday should give a much better indication.

BTW, the St. Louis field has a couple of very fast racerbots -- the well known 148 which our refs have christened "Super Roomba", and the local favorite 1098 which looks and runs like a little Ferrari.

edit: check out some video of 931 in action. A launched trackball can cover some distance, and might just get loose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AvdFQ_DOIk

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I wondered if anyone would get around to that.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

That was a nice color-coded alliance.

Round 2 - Oops, 10-point penalty in Hybrid mode

Round 3 - Was that 148 out there? What happened with them?

Also, please see the discussion on Team Update #13 - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=65243
What was said in the ref meeting about when and how this applied? Just to placing the ball on the Overpass, or to all balls? And what about the end of Hybrid?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

News news, any news?
How's it going guys?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Look at the scores and rankings: http://www2.usfirst.org/2008comp/eve.../rankings.html

Going into the 5th round, there are two undefeated teams 1288 and 1444, with several others immediately behind them with 1 tie.

148 is also undefeated, listed as having played 3 games, but they show up on the match results 4 times - one of them must have been a DQ! [Update - as I was typing, they played again and won - so now credited with 4 wins.]

[Another update - all the teams up at the top of the rankings with a tie have now also suffered a loss, except for 525 who hasn't played their 5th game yet.]

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

45, 494 and 1658 are also missing one of their games in the standings table - was there really that many DQ's?

New thought: Surrogates. There are 45 teams; if they are playing an odd number of rounds, 3 of the teams will be surrogates. By this year's rules, the surrogate matches are the 3rd match of the competition.

Still, that leaves one of 45, 148, 494 and 1658 having been DQ'd.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Those teams have all played as surrogates, this year surrogate matches are a team's 3rd match, not the last one like last year.

STL is rocking here, 217 is solid and 148 keeps racking up the laps.

EDIT: 1658 was a DQ for not showing up; 45, 148, 494 were surrogates.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Can someone tell me if there is video from today and where I can go to see todays results? Also, how are the Indiana teams doing?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Here is the link http://www2.usfirst.org/2008comp/eve.../rankings.html for the rankings. 148 and 1444 are undefeated.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I don't understand the new ball rule either. During on of our matches. The head ref didn't count one of the balls placed on the overpass and we have no idea why. The robot had dropped it, and it was clearly sitting in place when the buzzer rang. I couldn't tell if the robot was touching the ball or not. Does this matter?


I think the St. Louis regional is going very well!! We hope to see some great competition in the finals!

However, is anyone having trouble with their IR? We were having the biggest problems during our first matches yesterday and today, and we think that it was because of the stadium lights. We placed some sandpaper above our IR sensor and now it works great! We can knock the ball off the overpass during hybrid, which is what we originally planned!

View from the Pits
 

I'll give quick update from the non-competition side of things.

We've been busy in the pits, but so has almost everyone, it seems. It is a first week regional so that's not entirely unexpected. Everyone seems to be helping each other in true FIRST fashion.

St. Louis is really showing us a great event. As a first timer here, I'm surprised at how much it feels like home. Lots of familiar faces, but even more new people to meet. Several volunteers have stopped by to make sure we're doing OK and the judges seem experienced and friendly.

The competition seems closer than the standings and results show. Our scouting team (an incredible bunch) just spent several hours deciding that it's impossible to agree on a ranking order of the top machines and teams. Putting 217 at the top is easy, from there it gets tough. Some of it's the game, but every team has its strengths and challenges.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll see more matches, but I'm having a great time.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Andy did a four ball belly slide, and that's my update! :D

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

That was one of the matches I managed to see. It was literally a last-second placement of the trackball on the overpass as time ran out. Yes, the robot was touching it. Yes, it matters:

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Surrogates in our third match???? I am unaware of any new rule, or a third match surrogate. Did I miss something? Team 494 has three matches to play on Saturday, not two. I think that is the difference.

Ten years of attending Regionals......this is the first regional I have attended where they were giving out money to all the teams. THANK YOU MASTERCARD :D :D :D

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I'm curious as to how the 148 strategy is playing out in this first week regional. How have their pairings been? Have they typically won or carried an alliance on the strength of their lapping or have there been factors with other partners hurdling at the same time? 1st place is truly impressive for a machine like that and speaks to the skill that they must drive with. How have the other teams been dealing with a robot like that (if at all!)?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

It was actually MasterCard that gave $100 to every team at the regional. MasterCard is a regional sponsor and has been supplying judges for some time but our team and others have been bugging the MasterCard folks here in St Louis to sponsor individual teams. This may be their approach which provides funding to teams without singling out any one team.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Yes indeed. It's in 9.3.2:
In the Midwest Regional match sheets that someone posted, there was a thin column marked "S" next to each team assignment. I presume those would be marked somehow to indicate the surrogate match.

Best of luck in the rest of the tournament.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Indeed, 494's third match was their surrogate match, as indicated by the '1' in the S column of the match list.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Ouch! Score 90 points and lose the match :(

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

STL Alliances

1) 148 217 830
2) 1444 45 1
3) 494 1094 1985
4) 525 2062 2044
5) 2081 85 1208
6) 2457 70 829
7) 1288 1178 1098
8) 1182 1741 292

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Geez.
Those first two alliances look similar to last year's alliances.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

lol 1:41 there playing a Hannah Montana song! lol

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Semi 1-1 - a new high total score, 102-92.

194 points in one match!

And then they do even better - 106-98 - in the second semi.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Rematch of last years finals in St. Louis 148 and 217 vs 1444 and 45.
http://team148.blogspot.com to read it from the Robowranglers point of view.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

According to the FIRST website:

148, 217 & 830 win it in 2 matches (yeah Thunderchickens!)
F1: 112 - 20
F2: 78 - 70

Congrats to the winning alliance & the finalists

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Different result from last year though. My condolences to teams 1444, 45 and 1. You sure put up a good fight in that last match.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Congratulations to 148, 217, and 830 on winning the event.

Did anyone else notice 148's alliance's scores in the elims? : 68, 98, 102, 106, 112, 78. Pretty impressive.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Yup, and I'm pretty sure the 112 score had a penalty. So there was a chance of having 122. Midwest regional's record was up in the 140's. What was it, the first of the final matches, 112 - 20? Team 45 had a battery come disconnected during autonomous, hurt their alliance bad.

Congrats to the regional champs 148, 217, 830, and the finalists 1, 45, and 1444. What I liked, was that this year's finals match alliances each contained two of the teams that were in it last year. It was 148 and 217 vs 45 and 1444. But, last year 1444 and 45 took the win.

I had fun this weekend.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Could someone please list all of the day 2 awards?

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Here are all the awards: http://www2.usfirst.org/2008comp/events/MO/awards.html

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

First off, congrats to the winning teams 148, 217, and 830.

It was our first time at the regional and it was great. The field of teams was great and it was a blast in the stands. It was a little bit of a long drive down, 8-9 hours, but I would totally do it again. We don't compete until West Michigan in three weeks, but I'm am looking forward to watching the next couple of weeks and see how the game evolves.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

They actually Are. 1444 and 148 were opponents last year, and 1444 won then.. This year 148 won. Also team 1444 did have 45 with us last year.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

First off congratulations to the winning alliance:
148, only one word is needed, AMAZING.
217, I wish my drivers could spend some time with yours, they were great. And thanks for the “Best Name” award, it will be proudly framed and put on our wall.
830, for our pit neighbors; great job guys, you worked your butts off all weekend.

Thanks to our alliance
2457, what a fantastic rookie regional. Thanks for ignoring the standings when you picked us.
70, after the carnage of round one, most of the people in the building thought you were done. Very few teams could have pulled that off.
It may sound strange, but I have never had more fun losing in the finals. It is honestly the first time I left a final on the wrong end of the score with a smile on my face. You guys were a lot of fun to work with. With a little less bad luck we could have made the finals (to be crushed by the #1 alliance). I’ll be happy to play with you guys again anytime.

To all involved in putting on the regional:
What a fantastic job, I don’t think I have ever been to a more smoothly run regional
Referee crew, fantastic job. You made a difficult game to officiate look easy.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

First, a huge thanks to 148 and 217... You guys were AMAZING to work with.

Congratulations to the finalists, 1444, 45, and 1! As a former Juggernaut, I was very ecstatic to see my current and past teams both ending up in the finals :)

Last, but not least, thank you to all of the volunteers and participating teams who made this event a success! I brought a team of 50% rookies, and all of them were absolutely astounded at everything that went on at the event.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Congrats to 148, 217, and 830. Your winning alliance was an awesome pairing. Both the Midwest and Stl Louis Regionals had some great alliances. There is video of the Midwest but does anyone have some video's that they can postof the St. Louis? You know us Firster's, we like to select our top teams.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I had a great time at the regional - thank you volunteers and coordinators for keeping the traffic flowing through the field!

148 and 217 - the opportunity to work with such great teams was nothing short of amazing. Great drivers, brilliant coaches, resourceful pit crews, awesome fans - everything in perfection!

1444, 45, and 1 - Your robots were amazing and I loved the level of alliance play you displayed on the field. Best of luck on your future competitions

829 and 868 - I was glad to have you as our neighbors, thank you so much for letting us borrow tools and parts when needed.

1098, 494, 85, 2560 and anyone else who lent us batteries in our time of need, thank you! We couldn't have competed without you.

To all the teams - the competition was spectacular, fast-paced, and intense to the end. Way to go!

-Alex Golec

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I really don't know how to set the tone of this post, seeing as I am just so excited that my team was able to work with the Thunder Chickens again, and 830 as well.

It was such a great feeling watching this years game I might actually get into Nascar.

Also, thank you to 1444, 45, and 1 for being great opponents in the finals.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Just want to say congratulations to all teams at St. Louis regional. It was a fantastic experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Want to thank teams 525, and 2044 for such a great alliance! Teams 217 (have fun at the Detroit regionals), 148, and 830's excellent performance, what an awesome semi-final! 45 1445 1 again great year, hope to see any and all of you at the nationals!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

On behalf of the St. Louis regional volunteer crew and the planning committee, I want to thank and congratulate all of the teams that participated. Your enthusiasm and persistance made our efforts worthwhile, and you looked great doing it. We would love to see all of you again next year. Special thanks to the four rookie teams: 2408, 2410, 2457, and 2560.

The folks I need to thank will make a very long list, so I'd better get started:

Andy Baker, Mark Koors, and the TechnoKats provided so much gracious help in so many ways that it defies complete accounting. Let's just say 45 is awesome and leave it at that. [note to self: recruit Eric Schnabel in future.]

Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. Robowranglers and Thunderchickens. [how long can they keep this going?]

Juggernauts, BoB, Martians, Black Knights, Robodawgs, Panthertech, Redstone, Swartdogs, Nemesis, Digital Goats, Rat Pack, Tech Hounds, Linn-Mar, Robodevils, Technical Difficulties, and Red Alert: visiting veterans from eleven states make one outstanding competitive field. Special thanks to 1804 from Oak Park (near K.C.) -- my team hopes to visit your regional sometime.

Congratulations also to all of our local area teams: 1094, 1098 [I want to drive your Ferrari!], 1178, 1182, 1208, 1288, 1329, 1444, 1658, 1706, 1985, 2014, 2219 [yes, Carbondale is local], and our newest addition 2408. Let's keep FRC growing in STL -- a Gateway Invitational off-season event is starting to look like a realistic goal.

Special props to our visiting sophomore teams: 2044 from Papillon, Nebraska; 2062 from Waukesha, Wisconsin [three awards and the best looking pit I've ever seen], 2081 from Peoria, Illinois; 2177 from Mendota Heights, Minnesota; and 2197 from New Carlisle, Indiana. The second year can be tough, and your success shows you are on your way to building sustainable programs.

And a special shout out to our star visitors The Circuit Chargers from Tulsa, Oklahoma. 932 earned both the Regional Chairman's Award and the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. And in three weeks they'll be on home turf in the inaugural edition of the Oklahoma City Regional. Y'all rock!

Finally I want to thank and congratulate my team 931 Perpetual Chaos. You made me proud. I'm looking forward to spending more time with you in the stands at Boilermaker, where someone not named Richard will be the FTA.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Let's see here. This is my first year as a part of an FRC team, and as such my first major competition. To put it simply: it was awesome. Met some awesome people (from 217 and 1208 in particular), had a great time in St. Louis, and got to see some well designed and built robots go head to head. Looking forward to our next regional at Boilermaker.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

This is the same guy who kept trying to say that TechnoKats was a waste of time and that there are better things to do than this! :D This goes to show just how much FIRST can change a person's mind in a matter of seconds!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Losing to our friends this year was only slightly less enjoyable than beating them last year. :) What they say is true: This is the hardest fun you'll ever have!

The connector was fine. It was the battery wire which came loose. With it properly covered by electrical tape, there was no way to tell it was going to be a problem. I understand we'll be replacing those screw-type battery terminals with crimps this week.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

What you weren't using those fancy AM crimped wires? Surprising!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Those connectors were made before AM brought those out.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Ah, so you made them before build season?


And I talked to Amy and she said it was your fault that I didn't get my 45 button this weekend. I am officially blaming you for our bad luck this regional :D

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

I highly recommend that teams consider using this AM product. The crimps are made using automated tooling, which can be expected to show much higher reliability than crimps made using hand tools. This practice is considered important enough to be made a requirement in many industrial applications.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

All kidding aside, Richard is right. Those crimped AM connectors are well worth the $15.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Hey Schnabel, how did Andy react when he found out about the wire? I vaguelly recall Bailey telling the story, but I'm iffy on the details.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

No, Andy Mark was still "in the process of buying this tool" (from the website) and we decided to use the connectors we had used the year before.

I will just say that he was not happy.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Believe me, the 6-hour ride home was a mix of adrenaline and exhaustion. Personally, I'm just glad we've joined the banner-having-teams club. :D It's just beginning to set in, so it's a bit electric here at school. Chairman's is of course amazing, and it's quite thrilling to be home to a Woodie Flower's award-winning mentor.

Though our robot didn't do well statistically, we did discover we had the third-highest ranking points of any team, and the first two were in the top eight - something of which we can be quite proud.

Thanks for the compliments - OKC and Atlanta are going to be exciting!

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

1741 had the exact same thing happen as 45 except that we didn't completely lose the connection. If anyone recalls we had a match where the robot was absolutely crawling. We used crimp connectors, but our electronics guy decided not to crimp them and the solder came loose. **SIGH** Needless to say we weren't happy about that.

Big props to 1182 and 292 it was great to play with you guys and I hope we that we get a chance to play with you again at some point. Congrats to 148, 217, and 830.

I must also point out that the score of the quarter final matches where we (the number 8 seeded alliance) played the number 1 seeded alliance that the first score was a difference of only 6 points, and the second was a difference of 30 due to penalties, which I have some questions about.

I was wondering when the penalties occurred, because from the coaching position the only time the plane of the field was broken was when 217 was stuck in the fence. I would hope the penalty wasn't called on the wrong alliance, and I plan to post the video soon so if anybody sees where the penalties occurred I'd appreciate knowing when it happened. I was also wondering why a penalty wasn't called when 1741 was hurdling and we were hit very hard by a robot of the opposing alliance. I wish I had been aware of this at the end of the match, so that I could have asked the head referee, because I only realized it after watching the match over on Sunday morning.
(I need to qualify the preceding with the fact that I'm proud of my team and my alliance and I don't mean any disrespect. I just would like to understand better what happened.)

Finally I'd like to thank 45. The drivers did an awesome job when we got stuck together and we look forward to seeing you at Purdue.

Thanks for a great regional:confused:

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

You can break the plane of the playing field without penalty. It is when you touch the ground outside the playing field that you get disabled.

Re: 2008 St. Louis Regional
 

Congratulations to my former team, 830, for being part of the winning alliance with 148 and 217. I'm so proud of you guys, words can't even begin to describe it...